Many of us will recall the threads about Omega restricting the sale of it's spares to authorised Service Centres and the resulting in loss of supply to independent watchmakers.
However, I seem to recall that when I looked last year there were few Service Centres listed on Omega's website. Now when I look I see several in London, and not just WoS and EJ. There are quite a few around the country:
Is this a change, have more watchmakers bitten the bullet and sought Omega approved status, or am I missing something?
I don't believe they're full service centres. For example, Mappin and Webb in Manchester have an on-site watchmaker and can do a pressure test or a simple tweak to a moonwatch. They can't do anything with a Co-Ax.
I think Omega have just teamed up with ADs who have watchmakers to provide basic support.
On the other hand, I'd never heard of W T C Watch Repairers until I found them on the Omega site and subsequently read the first half of this article: link...under Clerkenwell.Originally Posted by Guitarfan
Interesting - maybe you're right...
Looks as if STS isn't on that graphic.
They are there...somewhere amongst the '11' around London (& Essex).
You're probably right, Pickle.
Mind you, Hockley is a bit of a drive from town.
Actually, no they are not.
You can get (via the link in the OP) to show the addresses, and they are not there.
In fact every single one of the addresses is an AD apart from the Swatch Service centre in Southampton
So STS are not there. Neither is Watchworks in Bristol, despite being fully Omega qualified and having a badge to say so.
So what they are calling "service centres" are not at all, they are probably the people that are trained to receive and process service requirements.
So I am not surprised the number has gone up.
Dave
Having just done the process (twice, albeit with a Longines, but also Swatch group) this is largely just a list of places who are authorised to send the watch back to Swatch in Southampton. Almost none of them will do anything that involves opening the case at the marked location.
You're right...they're not there and that's a change since the last time I looked (I wasn't making it up). Evidently Omega are playing around with their site.
What Swatches current list consists of is the retailers and boutiques, seems a bit unfair on people like Rocco and others who have jumped through lot of hoops, invested heavily in machinery and tooling and aren't even appears on Omegas own website of recognised serviced centres, bit remiss of Omega and Swatch IMHO
I entirely agree, it has cost Rocco many thousands of pounds to complete the entire list of tools and parts inventory that they require, along with attending training that he is probably more experienced and qualified to teach rather than receive, only to be ignored on the official site.
STS even more so
But you can understand that Omega perhaps think that Rocco's Ashley Down workshop is not in keeping with the Omega image.....
D
Up to the consumer, I'd have thought? Sorry, forgot. Swatch is Swiss. Carry on :).
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Both Swiss Time Services and W T C Watch Repairers are now listed on Omega's updated site: link.
Edit: There are quite a few places Omega Service Centers that I haven't seen before.
Last edited by PickleB; 12th September 2015 at 21:02.
That's not bad compared to Rolex
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote